{"id":2352,"date":"2026-05-09T16:39:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/?p=2352"},"modified":"2026-05-09T16:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:39:55","slug":"venom-3-one-more-dance-than-it-really-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/05\/09\/venom-3-one-more-dance-than-it-really-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Venom 3: One More Dance than it Really Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been an enjoyer of superhero movies\u00a0since\u00a0my\u00a0very early\u00a0preteen years.\u00a0While I was\u00a0predominantly a\u00a0Marvel fan before the\u00a0Post-Infinity War<\/em>\u00a0Era,\u00a0during which\u00a0franchise\u00a0began sputtering into\u00a0a sharp\u00a0decline,\u00a0Sony\u00a0had an especially strong year\u00a0in 2018.\u00a0They released\u00a0Spider-Man: Into the\u00a0Spiderverse\u00a0<\/em>in December—which is still such a good movie\u00a0that thinking about it\u00a0makes me\u00a0slightly\u00a0less upset about the subject of this review—and\u00a0Venom,\u00a0<\/em>the first installment in Sony\u2019s soon-to-be trilogy\u00a0was released a few months prior in October.\u00a0Venom<\/em>\u00a0was,\u00a0quite honestly,\u00a0the most fun\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0had\u00a0watching\u00a0a movie that year.\u00a0The writing was passable, with respectable messaging about\u00a0human testing, pursuit of the truth, adaptation in the face of adversity,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0trust billionaires,\u00a0etc. It also had very solid CGI, with an impressively organic looking symbiote\u00a0that to this day holds up better than Marvel\u2019s recent iteration of Red Hulk.\u00a0However, by far the most appealing element of the movie was Tom Hardy\u2019s\u00a0phenomenally pity-inducting portrayal of Eddie Brock, and his excellent\u00a0dynamic with his symbiote (also played by Tom Hardy)\u00a0Between the first film and the second, Let There be Carnage<\/em>, there was an unmistakable charm to the series\u00a0that made it not only possible, but also easy to overlook\u00a0its flaws.\u00a0The\u00a0initial\u00a0Venom<\/em>\u00a0duology, while not perfect, was\u00a0fun<\/em>.\u00a0So fun in fact, that I had very literally counted down the days to the third and final\u00a0installment\u2019s\u00a0release and\u00a0finagled my wonderful friend into walking thirty minutes from campus to Phoenix Theatres to watch\u00a0Venom: The Last\u00a0Dance\u00a0<\/em>on\u00a0release night. I have here an image of our real, raw reactions\u00a0upon finishing that film.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note Lily\u2019s dead eyes. Note\u00a0how hard I was trying to rack my brain for anything to compliment about this movie. My eyes were\u00a0genuinely\u00a0watering,\u00a0not from\u00a0sadness\u00a0at the ending, but baffled frustration about what an utter pile of shit this movie was.\u00a0To this day,\u00a0one\u00a0and\u00a0a half years later, I am appalled at how\u00a0severely this ball was fumbled. Venom<\/em> 3<\/em>\u00a0was a cacophony of bullshit\u00a0almost the\u00a0entire way through.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I know that this film had a generally neutral to positive audience reaction, and I cannot stress enough that this is going to be a review made in very bad faith, consisting of over a year\u2019s worth of resentment. If you enjoyed this movie, that\u2019s wonderful, and I have no desire to take that away from anyone, but I do not imagine we will have much common ground on this film, and I recommend you look for a less biased review if you are earnestly wondering about other people\u2019s thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that said, the\u00a0film opens with the most in-your-face exposition I have seen,\u00a0possibly ever.\u00a0The opening scene is narrated by Knull, the ruler of the planet the Venom symbiote hails from, who helpfully explains\u00a0to the viewer his name, epithets, and the entire backstory\u00a0of how he became imprisoned. He continues, in\u00a0Dora\u00a0the Explorer-like fashion,\u00a0to graciously explain the mechanics of the\u00a0item formed by an exceptional symbiote\/host\u00a0will unleash him.\u00a0All of this is said directly aloud, and the abridged version will be helpfully\u00a0repeated by Venom multiple times throughout the movie, and all of these individual explanations were absolutely necessary.\u00a0Throughout the film, characters\u00a0elaborate on things a viewer paying even half-attention will notice. The woman with the Lichtenburg scars who has dreams of trying to save her brother from a lightning strike\u00a0has to\u00a0explain aloud, \u201cMy brother died in a lightning storm,\u201d the other side character scientist covered in Christmas paraphernalia, nicknamed \u201cChristmas,\u201d\u00a0who says, \u201cMan I love Christmas,\u201d\u00a0and so on. The viewer is given a front row seat to every character\u2019s\u00a0thoughts\u00a0on the\u00a0situation; they are always saying precisely how they feel aloud.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new cast\u00a0also\u00a0completely oversaturates the film.\u00a0Along with Knull, they have added\u00a0Dr. Teddy Paine, Rex Strickland, and the aforementioned Sadie \u201cChristmas,\u201d the first two of whom I only learned were adaptations of comic characters when fact-checking for this review\u00a0(on account that they share absolutely no similarities beyong name with their comic counterparts. Dr. Paine\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0even from a Venom\u00a0comic).\u00a0These new characters are employed at\u00a0Area 51\u00a0trying to hunt down and study symbiotes, and far\u00a0too much time is spent on them for how important they actually are.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to note that the concept of\u00a0people in power tracking down and experimenting on symbiotes was the premise of the first\u00a0film,\u00a0to\u00a0much greater effect. The antagonist of\u00a0Venom<\/em>\u00a0planned\u00a0to use symbiotes to\u00a0achieve immortality and eternal fame for himself. A\u00a0point was made to show and not tell how willing he was to experiment\u00a0on\u00a0homeless people and his own staff to achieve this.\u00a0His motivations were personal, and there is a marked descent into madness as he becomes more obsessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film\u2019s Dr. Paine\u00a0is interested in aliens on account of the lightning (?), Strickland is\u00a0only interested in finding symbiotes to kill them, and Christmas really\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0seem to give a shit about anything but Christmas.\u00a0They have no personal goals with\u00a0the symbiotes\u00a0other than nebulously studying them, which they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0seem\u00a0very good\u00a0at doing.\u00a0Despite having access to a\u00a0symbiote\u00a0host, they have developed no measures to attack Venom that are any more interesting than what\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0already seen in the last two films. These characters\u00a0remain\u00a0entirely static, save\u00a0perhaps Strickland\u00a0who gets an 11th<\/sup>\u00a0hour\u00a0pre-death\u00a0change of heart\u00a0throwing\u00a0a few grenades at the\u00a0Xenophages\u00a0(doglike aliens\u00a0sent by Knull to track down Venom.)\u00a0Despite this stasis, they get\u00a0at least 40 cumulative minutes of the\u00a0109-minute\u00a0runtime to stand around and\u00a0do little more than\u00a0say, \u201cMan I wish we had that symbiote,” or, “What are we\u00a0gonna\u00a0do with that symbiote.\u201d Knull, also,\u00a0Destroyer of Worlds,\u00a0does absolutely nothing\u00a0in this movie\u00a0beyond throwing\u00a0Xenophages\u00a0at the problem. We will come back to this.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By and far the best elements of this movie come when the focus is allowed to actually be on Venom and Eddie.\u00a0Their banter\u00a0remains\u00a0solid,\u00a0their fights are well choreographed, and it is notable how comfortable they have become acting as a unit\u00a0after their breakup arc in the\u00a0previous\u00a0movie.\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0Eddie\u2019s dialogue does not seem to have caught up to this\u00a0arc having been resolved. This movie\u2019s humor is decent, but the emotional core is entirely built on beating a dead\u00a0symbiote\u00a0horse.\u00a0As soon as\u00a0Xenophages\u00a0become involved and the two are on the run, Eddie melts into\u00a0an absolute man-baby,\u00a0and while this would be an understandable reaction to the situation at hand, it is completely unreasonable that he seems to place the blame entirely on Venom for the situation\u00a0they are in. Eddie spends this movie ambiently being stressed out and\u00a0gazing longingly out of windows, wishing for a normal life. If a viewer were feeling\u00a0generous\u00a0this would also be, to a degree, understandable if not for the\u00a0major issue:\u00a0 we\u00a0did this already! This is almost\u00a0beat\u00a0for beat\u00a0the thought process that Eddie overcame in\u00a0Let There Be Carnage<\/em>,\u00a0a longing for peace that is eventually overruled by the fact that he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0want to be without Venom. We have already had a breakup and makeup\u00a0spurred on\u00a0by dire circumstances, and it feels not only out of character, but outright exhausting to watch happen again. Doubly so because Venom seems\u00a0fully committed to making this work, as it were, trying throughout the film to get Eddie to enjoy himself, even a little\u00a0in this situation that is, mind you, partially also Eddie\u2019s fault.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tension builds up to\u00a0the absolute worst part of the movie: the climax.\u00a0An army of\u00a0Xenophages\u00a0have infiltrated Area\u00a051,\u00a0a group of imprisoned and unnamed symbiotes break free and bond with the scientists,\u00a0and a huge battle ensues. As\u00a0all hope seems lost,\u00a0Venom detaches from Eddie, merges with the\u00a0Xenophages\u00a0(he has never done anything akin to this before,) and sacrifices themself to\u00a0set massive tanks of acid ablaze and kill all of them and himself, as well as all of the new symbiotes who were introduced entirely for five minutes of hype moments and aura. Eddie wakes up in a hospital with a government pardon, complete with a military official telling him something to the effect of \u201cYeah, you guys were never\u00a0gonna\u00a0get to stay together, dumbass.\u201d\u00a0Eddie goes to look at the Statue of Liberty all alone, and the credits roll. Playing Maroon 5\u2019s \u201cMemories.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been\u00a0over a year, and I still cannot completely believe how much of a complete and utter waste of time this movie was to watch.\u00a0The franchise spends so much time and love setting up a dynamic between man and alien, coming to understand and support one another on a deeper level than either could ever achieve with anyone else. Working together to pursue\u00a0justice, facing internal and external threats and problems, and always choosing to come together and move forward together.\u00a0The films make you want to see them succeed, to come out stronger on the other side, because\u00a0ultimately that\u00a0is what they do. They work symbiotically to\u00a0find a unique fulfillment in the life they choose. And this movie–the final installment, the\u00a0last we were going to see of these characters as far as we can gather–spits in the face of an audience that\u00a0dared to believe they could keep that bond,\u00a0and\u00a0scoffs at\u00a0the people who believed the previous film\u2019s\u00a0message that these two were better together.\u00a0The film flips you the bird, asserts that of<\/em>\u00a0course<\/em>,\u00a0tragedy\u00a0was always how it would end, and plays Maroon 5 at you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my final, main grievance: in a Marvel\/Sony classic\u00a0move, the film has a mid-credits scene.\u00a0In this scene, Knull proclaims that Venom dying\u00a0means\u00a0he\u2019s unstoppable now, actually, despite not having been released from his imprisonment, and a cockroach crawling upon the remains of Area 51\u00a0approaches a vial of black symbiote goop.\u00a0This mid-credits\u00a0scene ushers in my prinicpal complaint with this movie: it is a bad movie on its own, but it is a\u00a0horrendous<\/em>\u00a0final installment to a franchise. A boatload of characters\u00a0are\u00a0established\u00a0and introduced, and then they do nothing.\u00a0One of Venom\u2019s most important villains is introduced purely to organize his henchman and shake his fist.\u00a0A\u00a0herd of symbiotes are introduced,\u00a0just to die\u00a0immediately. Venom is heavily implied to not even be dead, which is\u00a0not only a further insult to audiences having dared to care about their sacrifice, but something that we will literally never get closure on, if Venom isn\u2019t brought back in Marvel proper–and there has been\u00a0no<\/em>\u00a0indication of this as a possibility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venom 3 was a movie that I\u00a0really\u00a0wanted to\u00a0like. I have a very genuine fondness for the first two installments, and I truly wasn\u2019t expecting a\u00a0masterpiece–I don\u2019t believe anyone really was.\u00a0But the drop in quality, the squandered emotional climax, the\u00a0bizarre and nihilistic messaging…\u00a0Venom: The Last Dance<\/em>\u00a0was a movie that truly felt like the embodiment of wasted time, and I am content to move forward ignoring it entirely if I ever choose to revisit the Sony films again.\u00a0Here\u2019s\u00a0to the ones that we got, I guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been an enjoyer of superhero movies\u00a0since\u00a0my\u00a0very early\u00a0preteen years.\u00a0While I was\u00a0predominantly a\u00a0Marvel fan before the\u00a0Post-Infinity War\u00a0Era,\u00a0during which\u00a0franchise\u00a0began sputtering into\u00a0a sharp\u00a0decline,\u00a0Sony\u00a0had an especially strong year\u00a0in 2018.\u00a0They released\u00a0Spider-Man: Into the\u00a0Spiderverse\u00a0in December—which is still such a good movie\u00a0that thinking about it\u00a0makes me\u00a0slightly\u00a0less upset about the subject of this review—and\u00a0Venom,\u00a0the first installment in Sony\u2019s soon-to-be trilogy\u00a0was released a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":2356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[35,27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2355,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352\/revisions\/2355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}